A Greek Air Force officer was arrested on Thursday morning and charged with leaking “secret information” to China through an online intermediary.
“The arrest took place within a military area, in cooperation and coordination with other state services,” said the Greek National Defense General Staff (GEETHA). The suspect’s name was not disclosed in the brief announcement.
Greek officials said the suspect is a male in his 50s who used encrypted communications software to send information to Beijing through an overseas contact. The scheme was detected after an unnamed allied country tipped off Greek intelligence.
Greek state broadcaster ERT reported that the suspect is a colonel in the Greek Air Force who has commanded telecommunications and training units, and that he confessed to espionage under questioning from GEETHA’s cybersecurity directorate.
According to ERT, the allied country that warned Greece about the security leak was the United States, specifically the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which determined about two months ago that an officer in the Greek armed forces was leaking “sensitive NATO-related information.”
ERT said that “as a communications engineer,” the suspect “had access to NATO and Greek military networks, including projects involving airborne radar systems, weapons procurement, and allied operational planning.”
Euro News quoted Greek officials who said, “There are indications the officer attempted to recruit others into an intelligence network.”
Euro News reported the suspect was in possession of a “special machine” with “software allegedly supplied by Chinese authorities to photograph classified documents” and pass them along to Chinese intelligence agents.
The detained officer is scheduled to testify before a military prosecutor on Tuesday, and could face up to 20 years in prison, plus the loss of his Greek citizenship. His defense lawyer claimed he is “calm and confident that justice will prevail.”
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